Ikko craned his neck, looking up to the top of Miss Yashiki's apartment complex. He tried to pick out her window from the grid, picturing himself looking out onto the city mere days ago.
Overhead, grey clouds rolled. A more natural weather front passed over the city now, calming the heat of a blazing sun and turning it, instead, to a warm mugginess that smothered his skin. Yokai Academy itself seemed to reach out its claws, the unending dreariness of its artificial weather stretching beyond the Borderlands to colour the sky and call him home.
Ishigaki cleared her throat. "You ready?"
He nodded, and they entered the building. A hush tamped down on the lobby and the stairs. Ikko knew, logically, that the quiet stemmed from a lack of occupants—the middle of the day rarely saw people at their homes—but it created a pall that his mind attached to the tragedy that preceded their visit. They stepped into the elevator, where Ishigaki picked the floor below Miss Yashiki's. "Some things to know before we get there."
The elevator shuddered, beginning to rise. He nodded, and she continued. "Haruhiko is still recovering. We think he's stable, the Kirilua Claret shows no sign of continuing to change in his body. In Miss Tojo—sorry, Ruby's—estimate, the corruption will eventually heal, but he's… well. He's not quite human anymore."
"Meaning?"
"Mostly dietary changes. According to Miss Yashiki, he's shown an increased appetite for meats. It hasn't manifested as anything else that we can detect, but only monsters have been allowed contact with him. We don't know how he'll react to a human."
A chill reached his heart. "How did you know?"
"Besides seeing your file when Yokai Academy supplied it?" Ishigaki shrugged. "It's what I do. It's my job to know, Mister Akada."
"Has it got anything to do with these?" he said, pointing to his eyes. Hers flashed, brightening minutely.
"We're not here to talk about me, and we don't have much time."
"A yes or no would have been faster."
She shook her head, sighing. "Honestly… yes, it has something to do with my eyes."
Satisfied, Ikko carried on. "You think he might attack?"
"No—the ordeal's left him pretty weak. But I can't tell you not to expect anything."
The elevator shuddered to a halt, its doors creaking open onto a hallway identical to the one that led to Miss Yashiki's. "Is he going to be staying here?"
"Provided nothing else happens, we have no reason to separate them," she answered coolly, "He made a mistake. It just so happens that in this world, mistakes tend to leave more scars than bruises, and more blood than tears. He's lucky to be alive."
"Is she okay?"
"She's fine. We've explained, in brief, what Fairy Tale is and the danger they pose. I'd ask that you say no more on the matter."
"Doesn't she need to know?"
"Only as far as the threat they pose to her son. If word got out about the Kirilua Claret… about humans being given the abilities of creatures like vampires… it'd be chaos. She knows to keep him away from them; that's enough for now."
They took the last set of stairs and stopped in front of Miss Yashiki's door. Before knocking, she faced Ikko, locking her eyes on his. "Do I have your word that you'll keep quiet about Fairy Tale?"
He frowned, scratching the back of his neck. "Sure. If he asks, though, I have to tell him some version of the truth. We didn't exactly meet on trustworthy terms."
"Details to a minimum, please," Ishigaki instructed, "I've had enough paperwork to do this week, thank you very much."
"Sure, sure…"
Miss Yashiki waited for them in the lounge. Bar her clothes, she looked exactly as they had left her at the start of the week, if a little more tired. Lined eyes, darkened by a lack of sleep, creased to greet them. "Miss Ishigaki, and…?"
"You remember Ikko Akada, don't you?"
"Oh! Is that you?" her voice tinkled with polite laughter, "Forgive me, I almost didn't recognise you. Have you had a haircut?"
"And then some," Ikko admitted, waving, "How have you been?"
"Good. Better. I never got the chance to thank you for bringing Haruhiko home."
"Ah, I didn't do much."
"Nonsense—Miss Ishigaki tells me you were the one who found him."
"W-well…"
"It's Haruhiko that brings us here today." Ishigaki interrupted, adjusting her glasses. "It's Ikko's last day, and he wanted to check in before he left."
"You're headed home?"
"Back to school, actually. We're—" he glanced at Ishigaki, who gave a tiny nod of permission, "—students at Yokai Academy."
"I've heard of it. They have a student finding missing children?"
"It wasn't exactly part of the itinerary…"
"You're more than welcome to see him," Miss Yashiki said, standing up, "But please, don't expect much."
"Is there no change?" asked Ishigaki. When she shook her head, Ikko understood the reason they had brought him. It wasn't for his benefit or peace of mind at all.
It was because they couldn't get him to talk.
He stifled the scowl as best he could, masking it with a cough and a covered mouth. "I won't be long, I promise."
"Of course. He's just down the hall."
Looking to Miss Ishigaki one more time, Ikko set off. He traced his steps down the hall, to the first room from the lounge, and knocked gently on the door.
A tiny voice fought past the door. "C'min."
"Excuse me," he announced as he did so, announcing that it wasn't a usual visitor to the room. He bore Ishigaki's warning in mind with every step he took.
Haruhiko lay on the bed, face-up. His phone divided him from the featureless ceiling, casting a pallid blue light on skin drawn tight over his skull. The corpse turned to face his way.
Ikko's breath stuttered. He could still see the blood in them, crimson flecks tainting the hazel. He did his best to compose himself, blinking once, twice. On the second blink, he pulled his magic over his eyes, hoping that protecting the primary sense would dull the impact of the baleful hatred that oozed his way.
It worked. The corpse turned into a boy. A tiny, tired boy. Ikko tried a smile. "You probably don't remember me. I'm Ikko."
"I do." He answered, short. He went back to his phone.
"How are you feeling?"
"Lucky to be alive."
Ikko bit his tongue. The venom in his words spoke plainly enough. "May I sit?"
A shrug. Good enough. Ikko pulled the chair out from the desk and set it closer to the bed, turning the back so that he could lean on it, the way he might a wall. In the process of doing so, his mind began its spin up, thinking quicker and quicker. It might serve her ends, but Ikko wanted to understand Haruhiko as well. Striking at the why of Haruhiko's decision could help him with Fairy Tale in the future. Why had they selected him? Why now? What could causing so much chaos achieve?
Such thoughts made him curse Ishigaki more deeply. She knew his curiosity could get her what she needed, and had leveraged it so easily with the scarcest hints of Haruhiko's condition. Only now, in the depths of her machinations, did he see the plan for what it was.
"Why are you here?" Haruhiko asked, the silence discomfiting him to the point of shaking loose an answer.
He tried not to sound startled. "I came to see you."
"Come to laugh at my mistake?"
"You nearly killed me. Why would I be laughing?"
The frankness of the response caused Haruhiko to put down his phone. He struggled to sit up, propping himself up against the headrest of the bed. "You got in my way."
"So I deserved to die? Is that how little a life means to you?"
What little monstrous ferocity remained in him, he now focussed entirely on Ikko. He felt his mind begin to strain with the effort of maintaining the spell that allowed him to speak. "You couldn't understand."
"I think I do." Ikko replied. Like with Masumi, the calmness of his voice took him by surprise. "Your mom—"
"Don't bring her into this."
Ikko caught himself. Careful… "Fine. Ever since you found out about monsters, you've been seeing everything they can do that you can't, right?"
He narrowed his eyes. Taking that as confirmation, Ikko continued. "I'm the same. The school where I'm from is full of monsters. My best friends can fly, manipulate fire, they can sing better than I ever could, they're strong without needing to train, they're… well. Everything we dream about doing. If someone came along offering me a chance of that power, I'd be pretty tempted as well."
"You were tempted," Haruhiko corrected, "You came to steal my shot."
"I didn't know anything about what you were there to get," he said, "We'd come straight from this house—from this room. I saw the sites you'd been visiting."
"How—"
"No password." Ikko pointed at the laptop. Haruhiko fell silent. "The people behind those websites, they're… well… they're not that interested in humans surviving the change they want to see. You get that now."
"Only the strong survive."
Ikko shook his head. "If that was true, I'd be mincemeat. All it took was a kid with a bit of borrowed strength to have me at death's door."
"Then you're strong some other way, then. Or you're stealing power, same as I did."
"Maybe you're right," Ikko murmured, looking to the door, "If you count relying on my friends as 'stealing power', then you're definitely right."
"You're friends with them?"
"I already told you." Ikko reached for his pocket. Haruhiko flinched. "I'm just getting my phone out."
He found a photo from the night before, a group shot squeezing as many of them as possible into a single frame, taken by Ruby. and turned the screen upside-down to show them to Haruhiko, deliberately angling it so that he had to turn out of bed. Bony legs swung out from under the cover. "What do you see?"
"A party."
He chuckled. "Okay, I walked into that one. But every single person in that photo is a monster—bar one."
He quickly flipped his phone back to zoom in on him, squeezed onto the couch between Etsuko and Ruby. Showing Haruhiko now caused him to scrutinize the screen even longer, comparing the beaming guy in the photo to the sombre one before him. As he matched the two faces, the pressure of his corrupted aura eased, relieving its weight from Ikko's eyes. No longer did he feel like his vision pressed into the back of his skull.
"How'd you do it?" Haruhiko asked, quiet.
Ikko dispersed his barrier. "Patience," he answered, "Both ways. They've had to learn to live with me the same way I've had to learn to understand them. Used to think it was a special effort I needed to make, but… I've needed it here, too. To be curious about someone, to want to know them. I couldn't have found you without that."
Haruhiko frowned. He locked the phone screen so that he was forced to meet his eye before continuing. "You've got the curiosity in spades. Hell, anyone would with a mom like yours would. You wanted to learn more about 'em, right? That's all."
A nod.
"You ever spoken to her about this?"
He shook his head. "I never knew how to ask."
"Me neither. You should have heard some of the first chats I had when I found out about this world." Ikko laughed now to think back to them, how awkward and blunt he'd been in his first broaches into Yokai Academy. "But I found people who knew me enough to know those questions came in good faith, to help me find the right words and ask the things I needed to learn, and to answer my questions in a way that encouraged me to ask more. I bet if you asked her some of the things you searched for online, she'd be happy to answer."
He mumbled "Even if that were true, I'm still only human. I don't belong in that world. I couldn't… I couldn't do what you do."
"Hey, don't speak so soon. I haven't finished yet."
Ikko offered Haruhiko a grin as he opened his phone once more. He opened his contacts list, once containing three names, now comparatively fit to burst—almost an entire page. He dialled one of them, putting it on speaker.
Haiji answered. "What's up?"
"Haiji, it's Ikko. I've got Haruhiko here with me."
"Ahh, the kid? How're you doing?"
Haruhiko looked at Ikko, eyes wild. "Go on," he mouthed, urging him.
"I-I'm fine, sir. It's nice to meet you."
"Likewise, likewise. What can I do for you two?"
"Your youth centre's just down the road from Haruhiko's place, right?"
"Yeah…?"
"You got room for a human kid in your self-defence classes?"
His eyes flicked to Haruhiko, waiting for Haiji's response. "Hell yeah, I do. The more the merrier."
"Y-you teach monsters?" Haruhiko blurted, brightening. The excitement proved transformative, filling out the drawn lines of his skin, bringing more of his true colour back to his eyes.
"I teach everyone, Haruhiko. You and your mom are welcome down here any time."
"You wanna go check it out?" Ikko offered.
Haruhiko leapt out of bed. "Now?"
"Sure."
"Y-yeah! Absolutely!"
"You hear that?"
Haiji boomed a laugh. "Bring your mom. I'll get things set up."
Hanging up, Ikko stood from his chair and stretched a little. "You heard the guy. Get yourself ready to go out; I'll let your mom know what we're doing."
He left Haruhiko to scramble about his room, the sound of his movement followed him out of the room. Miss Yashiki heard it first, shifting away from her conversation with Ishigaki. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah," said Ikko, sticking his hands his pockets. He deliberately refused Ishigaki's gaze. "I think so, anyway. I'll let him answer the question properly."
On cue, Haruhiko sprung from the room, fully dressed. He rushed into the lounge, throwing himself at his mother, who rose to greet him. "Hey!" she exclaimed, too bewildered by the sudden affection to do anything other than slide back into what Ikko guessed was their regular behaviour, "What's the rush?"
"Can we go out?" he asked, "Ikko knows a place for monsters where we can visit."
Miss Yashiki leaned, looking out from the side of her son's embrace to Ikko, who only shrugged and smiled back. She laughed through her answer. "Uh—sure! Let me get my shoes on."
Ikko and Ishigaki left them to prepare. Lingering in the corridor, Ishigaki revealed her hand. "Impressive. I didn't expect you to get him up and about."
"I try."
"What did you learn?"
He drew a breath, swelling into a sigh. "He's a kid who wanted to learn about monsters."
"Anything about Fairy Tale? How they contacted him? Who he spoke to?"
"You've had access to his phone and his laptop. Anything he could have told me you've already scanned for."
He prepared himself for what came next, pulling the barrier over his eyes. Sure enough, when their eyes met, he felt pressure against it. It was different from Haruhiko's, whose untamed hatred felt more like someone squeezing his eyes. Hers was subtler, like a nudge or a caress, but he felt it all the same. Better still, she realised that he did, and instantly backed off, adjusting her glasses. "Alright."
"Alright," he repeated, vindicated in his finality.
The full group waited for them outside the youth centre when they arrived, surprising even Ikko, who had orchestrated the whole thing. Where before Haruhiko had leapt at the opportunity to learn more, the sheer number of them inspired a familiar shyness, causing him to lag behind his mother. At the back of the group, Ikko watched his shoulders slump as his eyes cast down towards the pavement.
Each of them was so involved in their own talks that they didn't notice them straight away. Yukari noticed them first, shouting. "They're here!"
A great clamouring ensued, as everyone hastily arranged themselves into a group that stood ready to welcome them. Ikko laughed, stepping up to keep pace with Haruhiko and Miss Yashiki. "They're normally a bit more organised."
"Welcome, welcome!" Haiji announced, out of his karate gi for the first time this entire vacation. He wore a loose training shirt and jeans, complimented by his broad, honed shoulders. A toothy grin softened the otherwise ferocious man as he strode from the front of the gathering, holding his hand out to Haruhiko. "You must be Haruhiko? I'm Haiji."
He accepted it, his hand quivering as he shook Haiji's.
"You're interested in martial arts?"
"W-well…"
With how tall he was, it was hard to see Haruhiko as a bashful boy—but there he was, stammering and sputtering. His mother joined him, placing a comforting hand on his back. "We're just here to check things out."
"And you must be his mother?"
"Ranko Yashiki. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance—and to see you all again, after what you did for my son and I."
"We're just glad he's okay," Haiji nodded, "Shall we head in? Class is about to start."
"I didn't bring anything," Haruhiko began, but Haiji shook his head.
"You'll be fine in that. We won't be doing anything complicated."
Haiji made to guide them inside. Haruhiko lingered, facing Ikko one more time. "You weren't kidding," he said.
Ikko smiled, suddenly sheepish in the presence of all his friends. He closed the distance between them. "It's not gonna be easy," he replied in a low voice, "But you've got a chance to learn, here. Really learn. Make the most of it."
"Yeah," Haruhiko nodded, "I will. Thank you."
"I just made the call," he said, smiling, "The rest is on you."
"No—for… being there. At the construction site. I wouldn't… well. You tried to stop me. I'm—I'm here because of that."
He paused, unsure of what to say. He shifted his hands from his pockets, making a vague gesture before settling on clasping them together. "It'll be okay. You know what to do if they reach out. It won't happen again."
"Yeah," Haruhiko whispered. Then, after a moment, "Thank you, Ikko."
He and his mother headed inside, Haiji leading the way. Ikko watched his back, stunned, until the door closed and cut him off.
"I can see why he picked you," Ishigaki declared. Ikko didn't meet her eye, focussing on the door.
"Hm?"
"The headmaster."
"I'm glad someone can. I'm just playing it by ear."
"Heh. Here."
A tiny sliver of white entered his peripheral vision, forcing him to look her way. Ikko accepted the card, holding it up. "Why?"
"It's not for social calls, if that's what you're asking." Ishigaki laughed. "Consider it an invitation, and an open door. If you need anything, or hear anything about Fairy Tale, give me a call."
"So you can persuade me into finding out what you need?"
She pulled a face, dislodging her glasses. "I can't make you do anything you don't want to do."
"That's reassuring," he bit back, hollow, "All you'd need to do is make sure I want to do it, then."
She opened her mouth to respond, but stifled her initial retort with a chuckle. Instead, she said, "You're sharp, and you've got good instincts. Don't waste them."
"I'll keep that in mind," he scoffed, leaving her to join his friends.
The rest of their last day passed both too quickly and too quietly. Cleaning up the remains of the surprise birthday party, scrambling to buy souvenirs for Naoko and Nori, stuffing a whole new wardrobe into an already full suitcase.
Before they knew it, Ruby received the call marking the bus's arrival. Those who stayed bade farewells both cheery and tearful to those who departed as they clambered aboard.
As Moka hopped up the steps, Ikko made his way through the clumsy procession. To San and Marin, who promised to welcome him back any time. To Gin, who scruffed his new hair and told him to look out for Kia and Etsuko. Then to Haiji, who agreed to pass Ikko's number to Haruhiko at his request. Finally, he passed by Ishigaki, who offered a curt nod and a polite farewell, before joining the crowd on the bus. He settled one row from the back, next to Su and Etsuko.
Kia was the last on, and had to be encouraged to hurry for how she lingered with San, discussing something she didn't share when asked. Whatever it was caused San to turn a new page, scribble frantically, and tear it out for her to read later. When she settled next to Kurumu, the bus driver shouted. "Next stop, Aichi Prefecture!"
A guttural, wrenching noise lurched the bus into motion. Ikko peered through dusty window, past his friends, to those waving farewell. A sharp pang of longing clawed at him, tempting him to dive out of the window and throw another week into the Kawamoto Inn, but he didn't move from his seat.
Su caught the look in his eye and, knowing, tried a smile. "We'll be back next year. They can't get rid of us that easily."
"A whole year," Ikko lamented, "Is it weird that it can't come fast enough?"
"Given what we went through, yeah. A little bit."
They grinned at each other. Etsuko, between them, huffed. "What're we gonna do when we get back?"
"Study," Su said, "Some of us have exams to pass."
"Sleep," Ikko added, "Some of us have dealt with wolf-foot in their face for a week."
"I meant with this!" Etsuko exclaimed. "We're going back to Yokai and—then what?"
"Study." said Su.
"Sleep." said Ikko.
Etsuko groaned. "We'll need to train, we'll need to do research, we'll—"
"—Not have to worry about any of that." Mizore leaned over the bar at the back of their seat.
"Miss Shirayuki?" Etsuko frowned. "What do you mean?"
"The headmaster was very specific about the particulars of the ambassador's duties," she said, "Only during vacations, and only if your grades are good enough."
"We're supposed to just put it away? Go back to normal?"
The use of the word normal made Ikko chuckle. Mizore smiled. "Exactly. By all means, learn and train. Can't stop you improving on yourselves—wouldn't be doing my job if I did—but Fairy Tale is a problem for Tsukune, the headmaster, and the MIO. Clear?"
Dissatisfied, Etsuko heaved a sigh and slumped against the seat in front of her. "Study and sleep it is."
At Aichi, Tsukune and Moka gathered their things and made to leave. Like those they had left at the Kawamoto Inn, they made the rounds with their farewells. When the pair reached Ikko's seat, he scrambled to stand up.
Tsukune offered a handshake, which he took. "Not exactly the calm start we would have wanted, but you did well."
"I had a lot of help."
"We all do," he said, "Keep up your practise and your karate when you can, okay?"
"Whenever I can."
"Yeah." Ikko let go, nodding. "I never thanked you for showing me the ropes."
"Ah, don't worry. Landing you in mortal peril with our worst enemy balances out any good we did. Really, I should be apologising to you." Tsukune joked.
They laughed. Tsukune swapped out for Moka, who offered her hand just as he did. Anticipating a test, he shielded his hand and his eyes. Noticing the shifting light, she smirked. "Where'd you learn that?"
"From the best," he said, releasing both spells, "Not quite a total barrier, but it helped with Haruhiko and Miss Ishigaki."
"Ishigaki?"
Ikko raised an eyebrow. Had she not tried to manipulate them? Maybe she couldn't, given their relative strength. "She helped me with practise on a couple of mornings," he lied.
Blood red eyes searched him, but found nothing. Moka softened. "Take care of yourself, Ikko."
"And you."
They disembarked, disappearing into the crowds of students, the numbers made blurry by the state of the windows.
Next came Kurumu's turn, who departed a bit more quickly with hugs and blown kisses. Kia was the most torn up, holding back tears as she waved her farewell.
"Shame I didn't get to spend more time with her," Ikko murmured, making room for Etsuko to join her girlfriend to comfort her.
"Oho?" Su chortled, "I wonder why that would be?"
"It—not like that!" Ikko pushed her lightly, "I didn't spend a lot of time with some of them, is all."
"You got their numbers, just send them a text."
"That'd be weird."
"Uhuh."
Finally, after a slightly longer trip, Fangfang and Lingling departed for the family estate, leaving only those returning to Yokai Academy. A subdued, almost mournful air descended, as only one stop remained before they returned to the school, where only the knowledge that summer existed would bring them any joy from the holiday period. No more beaches. No more sunshine. Just the academy, and the looming threat of the return to term time.
The bus driver growled the death knell. "Next stop, Yokai Academy. I repeat…"
